Shofar FTP Archive File: imt/tgmwc/judgment/j-defendants-rosenberg

Archive/File: imt/ tgmwc/judgment/j-defendants-rosenberg
Last-Modified: 1997/09/05
Judgment
of the
International Military Tribunal
For The
Trial of German Major War Criminals
London
His Majesty's Stationery Office
1951
[Page 94]
Major General NIKITCHENKO:
ROSENBERG
Rosenberg is indicted on all four Counts. He joined the Nazi
Party in 1919, participated in the Munich Putsch of 9th
November, 1923, and tried to keep the illegal Nazi Party
together while Hitler was in jail. Recognized as the Party's
ideologist, he developed and spread Nazi doctrines in the
newspapers Voelkischer Beobachter and NS Monatshefte, which
he edited, and in the numerous books he wrote. His book,
Myth of the Twentieth Century, had a circulation of over a
million copies.
In 1930 Rosenberg was elected to the Reichstag and he became
the Party's representative for Foreign Affairs. In April,
1933, he was made Reichsleiter and head of the Office of
Foreign Affairs of the NSDAP (the APA). Hitler, in January,
1934, appointed Rosenberg his deputy for the supervision of
the entire spiritual and ideological training of the NSDAP.
In January 1940, he was designated to set up the "Hohe
Schule," the Center of National Socialistic Ideological and
Educational Research, and he organized the "Einsatzstab
Rosenberg" in connection with this task. He was appointed
Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories on 17th
July, 1941.
Crimes Against Peace.
As head of the APA, Rosenberg was in charge of an
organisation whose agents were active in Nazi intrigue in
all parts of the world. His own reports,
[Page 95]
for example, claim that the APA was largely responsible for
Rumania's joining the Axis. As head of the APA, he played an
important role in the preparation and planning of the attack
on Norway.
Rosenberg, together with Raeder, was one of the originators
of the plan for attacking Norway. Rosenberg had become
interested in Norway as early as June, 1939, when he
conferred with Quisling. Quisling had pointed out the
importance of the Norwegian coast in the event of a conflict
between Germany and Great Britain, and stated his fears that
Great Britain might be able to obtain Norwegian assistance.
As a result of this conference Rosenberg arranged for
Quisling to collaborate closely with the National Socialists
and to receive political assistance by the Nazis.
When the war broke out Quisling began to express fear of
British intervention in Norway. Rosenberg supported this
view, and transmitted to Raeder a plan to use Quisling for a
coup in Norway. Rosenberg was instrumental in arranging the
conferences in December, 1939, between Hitler and Quisling
which led to the preparation of the attack on Norway, and at
which Hitler promised Quisling financial assistance. After
these conferences Hitler assigned to Rosenberg the political
exploitation of Norway. Two weeks after Norway was occupied,
Hitler told Rosenberg that he had based his decision to
attack Norway "on the continuous warnings of Quisling as
reported to him by Reichsleiter Rosenberg."
Rosenberg bears a major responsibility for the formulation
and execution of occupation policies in the Occupied Eastern
Territories. He was informed by Hitler on 2nd April, 1941,
of the coming attack against the Soviet Union, and he agreed
to help in the capacity of a "Political Adviser." On 20th
April, 1941, he was appointed Commissioner for the Central
Control of Questions Connected with the East-European
Region. In preparing the plans for the occupation he had
numerous conferences with Keitel, Raeder, Goering, Funk,
Ribbentrop, and other high Reich authorities. In April and
May, 1941, he prepared several drafts of instructions
concerning the setting up of the administration in the
Occupied Eastern Territories. On 20th June, 1941, two days
before the attack on the U.S.S.R., he made a speech to his
assistants about the problems and policies of occupation.
Rosenberg attended Hitler's conference of 16th July, 1941,
in which policies of administration and occupation were
discussed. On 17th July, 1941, Hitler appointed Rosenberg
Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, and
publicly charged him with responsibility for civil
administration.
War crimes and Crimes against humanity
Rosenberg is responsible for a system of organized plunder
of both public and private property throughout the invaded
countries of Europe. Acting under Hitler's orders of
January, 1940, to set up the "Hohe Schule", he organized and
directed the "Einsatzstab Rosenberg", which plundered
museums and libraries, confiscated art treasures and
collections, and pillaged private houses. His own reports
show the extent of the confiscations. In "Action-M"
(Moebel), instituted in December, 1941 at Rosenberg's
suggestion, 69,619 Jewish homes were plundered in the West,
38,000 of them in Paris alone, and it took 26,984 railroad
cars to transport the confiscated furnishings to Germany. As
of 14th July, 1944, more than 21,903 art objects including
famous paintings and museum pieces, had been seized by the
Einsatzstab in the West.
With his appointment as Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern
Territories on 17th July, 1941, Rosenberg became the supreme
authority for those areas. He helped to formulate the
policies of Germanization, exploitation, forced labor,
extermination of Jews and opponents of Nazi rule, and he set
up the administration which carried them out. He took part
in the conference of 16th July, 1941, in which Hitler stated
that they were faced with the task of "cutting up the giant
cake according to our needs, in order to be able: first, to
dominate it; second, to administer it; and third, to exploit
it," and indicated that ruthless action was contemplated.
Rosenberg accepted his appointment on the following day.
Rosenberg had knowledge of the brutal treatment and terror
to which the Eastern people were subjected. He directed that
the Hague Rules of Land Warfare were not applicable in the
Occupied Eastern Territories. He had knowledge of and took
an active part in stripping the Eastern Territories of raw
materials and foodstuffs, which were all sent to Germany. He
stated that feeding the German People was first on the list
of claims on the East, and that the Soviet People would
suffer thereby. His directives provided for the segregation
of Jews, ultimately in ghettos. His subordinates engaged in
mass killings of Jews, and his civil administrators in the
East considered that cleansing the Eastern Occupied
Territories of Jews was necessary. In December, 1941, he
made the suggestion to Hitler that in a case of shooting 100
hostages, Jews only be used. Rosenberg had knowledge of the
deportation of laborers from the East, of the methods of
"recruiting' and the transportation horrors, and of the
treatment Eastern laborers received in the Reich. He gave
his civil administrators quotas of laborers to be sent to
the Reich, which had to be met by whatever means necessary.
His signature of approval appears on the order of 14th June,
1944, for the "Heu Aktion", the apprehension of 40,000 to
50,000 youths, aged 10 to 14, for shipment to the Reich.
Upon occasion Rosenberg objected to the excesses and
atrocities committed by his subordinates, notably in the
case of Koch, but these excesses continued and he stayed in
office until the end.
Conclusion: The Tribunal finds that Rosenberg is guilty on
all four Counts.

This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.

As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.